Chapter 1 Notes

Life Support: The Environment and Human Health Chapter 1: Environment, Health, and Risk Together, global warming, population growth, habitat destruction, and resource depletion have produced a widely acknowledged environmental crisis. The Environmental Crisis (pg. 1-6) }Z]Z]K7ZKL]L2Zo]L2ZZ] }]}LZ}ZZ[ZK}ZZ7 geosphere, and biosphere. Between one-third and one-half of the land surface has been transformed by human action. Biologists have observed startling declines in frog populations around the world. The health and reproductive success of amphibians is being damaged by interactions between an increase in the intensity of ultraviolet (UV) light (because of thinning of stratospheric ozone), traces of globally distributed toxic chemicals, competition from introduced predator species, and infections caused by virulent fungi and bacteria. The driving forces behind environmental degradation are population growth and industrialization. Human and Ecosystem Health An ecosystem-based health perspective takes into account the health-related services that the natural environment provides (e.g., soil production, pollination, and water cleansing) and